​Interest rates on conventional purchase-money mortgages decreased from March to April, according to several Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA) indices of new mortgage contracts. The FHFA conducted a Monthly Interest Rate Survey (MIRS) to find interest rate data, which provides monthly information on interest rates, loan terms, and house prices by property type, loan type, and by lender type, as well as information on 15-year and​​​ 30-year fixed-rate loans.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently reported in their Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) that, pending home sales increased in April for the fourth consecutive month and reached their highest peak in nine years. All four major regions saw growth in April, led by the Northeast and Midwest.

Castle & Cooke Mortgage, LLC has announced Ernie Martinez’s promotion to the position of Branch Manager for its El Paso, Texas location. Castle & Cooke Mortgage is an independent mortgage lender with over 250 employees and 35 locations across the United States.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) reported in a recent press release that commercial banks and saving institutions insured by the corporation aggregate net income was $39.8 billion for Q1 2015, a 6.9 percent or $2.6 billion increase from the previous year.

Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC, announced in a press release that it will make The Carrington Loan program available through its national wholesale lending division. This program was developed in order to support the company’s commitment to serve the “underserved” market and first-time homebuyers.

Ocwen Financial Corporation, a leading financial services holding company, recently announced that the company will close its residential servicing operations at its Houston facility.

In the National Association of Home Builder’s (NAHB) Eye on Housing blog, Robert Dietz, VP for tax and market analysis, found that the volume of residential AD&C loans outstanding expanded 4.8 percent during the first quarter of 2015. This will mark the 8th consecutive quarter of growth.

According to a recent survey from Experian Consumer Services, 95 percent of homebuyers are aware that credit scores play a significant role when purchasing a home, and those who know their credit scores feel more prepared to buy. In addition, 45 percent of future homebuyers say they put off buying a home in order to work on their credit so that they can qualify for better interest rates.

The Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi) released monthly by Freddie Mac, revealed today that the housing market is continuing to stabilize with the most improving metro markets seeing stronger demand for home sales for the spring homebuying season.

Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. recently announced in a press release. that Jim Leath has joined the company as the VP of enterprise sales and business development for all of the company’s services. Altisource provides mortgage, financial, and technology services for the real estate industry. They also provide marketplace and transaction solutions for the real estate, mortgage, and consumer debt industries offering both distribution and content.